AWESOME-tober-fest 2017: A Night of Fright is no Delight! (1970)

I’m a big fan of Scooby-Doo Where Are You? I watched it as a kid and I find even now it’s still fun to watch. I covered a Scooby Doo episode last year for mummies, so I thought I would do one again this year. So I picked one of my favorite episodes that involved…ghosts.

And the episode I picked was only four episodes after the mummy episode. It’s from Season 1, episode 16 – A Night of Fright is no Delight. It aired in early 1970.

I love this episode. The design of the ghost is so cool. I remember seeing it when I was a kid and thought that it was just so awesome. Obviously, I liked it so much I used it for my AWESOME-tober-fest banner this year.

Enough talk, let’s take a look at the episode.

The Mystery Inc crew is sent to an old Southern mansion which seems to be on an island in the middle of a lake somewhere? Col Beauregard Sanders (yep, Col Sanders) has included Scooby in his will for saving him at some point in the past.

The lawyer is Mr Creeps. Perfect name. Col Sanders’ will is recorded on a long playing record because it’s 1970. All of the relatives plus Scooby must spend the night in the haunted house to get their share of the Colonel’s money.

Getting ready for bed, Shaggy, in keeping with his M.O. of trying to eat things that are inedible to normal humans, tries to put fish food on his sandwich. See also “Liver a la Mode sandwich with an olive garnish” in Scooby Doo and a Mummy Too!

While Shaggy eats his fishy sandwich, Scooby decides to take a bath and gets kidnapped in the most Scooby Doo way possible. I love that there’s a second bathtub FULL OF WATER behind the false wall ready to take the place of the missing Scooby.

We see the shadowy ghost attack and kidnap one of the Sanders relatives. He leaves a message written in the dust on the mirror and we learn he has a name…Phantom Shadow. I love that name, btw.

Velma and Daphne rig up the worst dummy I’ve ever seen to fool the ghost into thinking it’s Scooby Doo.

Pretty soon all of the relatives are missing. I guess the ghost only needed the relatives’ bodies. Not their night caps.

In a hidden room the group stumble upon a group of coffins. Shaggy notes that one of the coffins is “dog shaped”. Why would the ghost bother having a coffin CUSTOM MADE for Scooby? And in what dimension is that coffin “dog shaped”? It looks more like a Foosball player.

Here we see the actual ghost, not just his shadow. And it’s not just one ghost, it’s TWO! Like I said, I really like the look of these green ghosts with the red eyes. They bring to mind the Ghostface masks/costume from the Scream movies.

Shaggy and Scoob give the ghost the slip and think they’re safe in the chandelier. However, the ghost was obviously prepared for that, guys.

Shaggy and Scoob get chased into the wine cellar. So they grab the strings that are always attached to wine corks and….hey, wait, what?!

Velma pulls the old “It’s for you” telephone gag on the ghost. He, of course, answers it.

Fred sets up one of his elaborate Rube Goldberg-ian traps to get the ghost involving a fan, some soap suds and a washing machine. Of course, when it’s time to spring the trap, Scooby completely screws it up.

The crew then manage to recover and capture the ghosts and unmask them in the grand tradition of Scooby Doo episodes. It’s a lot of fun and Casey Kasem gets extra duty as not only is he voicing Shaggy, he also voices Col Sanders and cousin Slicker.